Actually, like any career, there’s more than just one potential problem, but while the crazy and rude phone calls and everyone I’ve ever met in my life coming out of the woodwork to tell me they’ve written a book! is sometimes annoying, it’s not anything I can’t handle. (I mean c’mon, I was a high school teacher before this, I can handle almost anything at this point).
But what I’ve come to worry about is my love and enjoyment of reading.
Don't worry I haven't lost my love of reading. But I've heard a few people mention how their own love of reading changed as they got into the industry, and that worries me.
Before publishing, I was the type of person who spent waking weekend moments nose buried in a book, who read every book in one sitting, and managed to read 11 books in five days during that silly week off we got from school in February. When I moved from California, the 16 ft truck I rented to transport my belongings cross country was 75% filled with boxes of books, and the TBR room – formerly known as my bedroom – is even bigger than it was a few months ago (see pictures here). Trust me I still am this type of person.
That’s why I decided I wanted to switch careers and go into publishing. I distinctly remember joking with one of my students a few years ago when I was first thinking of going in a different direction. She asked what I would love to get paid for doing, and I’d said reading. But I’ve realized reading is like many other hobbies, when it becomes a job some of the things you love about it start to taper away.
Now don’t get me wrong, I still love my job. There is nothing better than finding a manuscript that I can obsess over, a manuscript that keeps me awake at night because I’m so hung up on what’s happening in the character’s lives, and then finding the right editors for that manuscript, submitting to them and hoping, praying, and waiting on the edge of my seat while trying to get that manuscript published. But wading through all the queries and requested manuscripts does take a toll on people and lately I’ve found myself ready to fall in front of the TV and zone out for a few hours on the weekend before picking up that manuscript on top of the TBR pile. I'm procrastinating - putting off reading!
I don’t want to turn to TV to procrastinate reading – that’s never been me. So I’ve thought a lot about it and realized the best way to stave off the manuscript blues is to make sure I’m reading actual books as much as I can. This might seem like a duh! option, but even just this week I’ve fallen pray to manuscripts. I started reading Beautiful by Amy Reed last week, and I really want to finish it, but the manuscripts are piling up, and every time in the last week when I get on the train and the two hours of free time present themselves, I choose to try to catch up on work rather than read the book.
I need to find a balance, self-impose some sort of limits, so that I don’t go all “psycho workaholic crazy” as one of my students used to say (while not the most creative phrase, it did accurately describe my behavior at the time), and don’t lose the very reasons I wanted to go into publishing in the first place.